September i, i8go.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
221 
thereat expressed his opinion as to the singula* 
fitness of the grass for the purpose required. 
The Syndicate, after coming to the resolution 
abovymentioned, then discussed the after-course 
to be^ followed by it, and a proposal,— should Dr. 
Evans’s report be as satisfactory as it promises to 
be, — to form a company for manufacturing the 
board in Ceylon and to take over and work 
the Stanley-Wrightson patents for tea chests 
therein, was most favourably entertained, 
and there seems to be every probability 
that this will be the course which will receive 
ultimate adoption. You will fully recognize that 
this arrangement, so full of hopeful promise for 
the creation of a new industry among you, is 
dependent upon the success of this second series 
of experiments; but no one here feels any doubt 
as to this being achieved, and I shall feel equally 
surprised as disappointed if, before another twelve 
months have passed, the new company’s mills are 
not in full work among you. 
Intimately allied to the subject treated of in 
the two foregoing paragraphs is the verdict now 
obtained as to the condition in which the first 
shipment of Stanley-Wrightson tea chests has arrived 
pt horn' ; for the prospects of the industry above 
rei'erred :0 are, of course, mainly dependent upon 
the success likely to follow that verdict. You have 
already been informed in these letters of what I 
had myself seen of these chests, as also of the 
satisfactory sales made of the tea which came 
hfmie in them. We have now further learned 
that on the shipments made home by the 
“ t artbage ” and “ Oopack ” fhere was a gain 
respectively on the lauuiug^ and sale weights as 
compared with those of similar tea packed in the 
same number of ordinary wooden boxes of the same 
external cubical measurement, of 2-4 lb., of tea per 
package, and 3*12 lb. of tea per package. That is 
to say, that, whereas the 46 lb. of tea packed in 
the Stanley-Wrightson chests sold (roughly) as 
48 lb,, the 45 lb. packed in wood chests sold only as 
44 lb. Freight and warehouse charges were the 
same for both kinds of packages, and you will be 
able to estimate from these figures one very material 
advantage obtained by the use of the Stanley- 
Wrightson chests. So far as my inquiries have as yet 
been replied to, I have not received a single ex- 
pression of opinion in opposition to their use. It 
is, however, admitted by members of the Syndicate 
that, while the boxes seems to be a success, the lead 
paper linings used instead of lead have not so far 
proved to be so ; but no opportunity has yet oo- 
courred for me to learn in what way or degree 
these last have proved to be defective. 
If it had been possible for me to do so I should 
certainly have endeavoured to be present to watch 
the process of treating the mana grass during its 
conversion into board at Messrs. Ibbotson’s mills. 
Unfortunately, absence from London will prevent my 
doing this, and I regret the fact exceedingly, be- 
cause I foresee that very probatly the introduc- 
tion of this new industry into Ceylon may have a 
marked effect on the welfare of many of its inhabi- 
tants, for those well acquainted with the variou 
purposes to which strawboard is now nppli* ‘ 
assure me that it is scarcely possible to ovi r- 
est.mate the luaiiy services it may be made to 
render. 
During the present W' ek opportunity has occurred 
for me to 1; arn from Mr. John Hughes i s opinion 
ujion 'vhnt we ‘ ad ;n the Tropical Anriciihurist not 
1 u,; back rs lo the eilioaoy of analyses of tea as 
stated by Mr. Daviii Hooper in the paper by him 
abstracted m that jouiual. Mr. Hughes tells me 
thit Im wrote by 'bo last mail but one to the 
Socrciary of your Planters’ Association directing 
attention to Mr. Hooper’s paper and the conclusions 
stated in it, and suggesting that it would s fiord 
useful information to planters if some investigations 
were carried out in order to determine the amount 
of tannin present in the ordinary domestio infusion 
of fen minutes, Mr. Hooper, according to Mr. 
Hughes’s view, contends that elevation has nothing 
to do with the proportion of tannin, but the latter 
gentleman considers that this opinion is in advance 
of facts ascertained by Mr. Hooper in his researches ; 
for out of the 66 samples reported on in the paper, 
only 6 were from Assam at an elevation of 600 feet, 
the other Indian teas analysed representing estates at 
an elevation ranging from 2,500 feet in Travanoore 
to 7,800 feet in the Nilgiri ranges Most of these 
Indian teas therefore represent hill estates, and as 
such it is reasonable to conclude that the proportions 
of tannin should in such oases represent about the 
same quantities as are found in tea grown on the 
hills in Ceylon. 
Mr. Hughes continued the expression of his views 
to me by pointing out further that Mr. Hooper’s 
results give the total amount of tannin present in 
the teas, and not the amount extracted under 
ordinary oircumstaneea. Mr. Hughes regards this 
as being a fact to be regretted, because Mr Hroper, 
in a small set of experiments subsequently made, 
showed that only about one-third of the total amount 
of tannin contained in the tea is usually extracted 
by the ordinary teapot infusion, and he holds that 
this constitutes the practical side of the question 
which calls for further analytical investigation. He 
quoted to me one sample of tea so dealt with by Mr. 
Hooper which yielded 3 04 of tannin, while another 
gave twice as much, viz. 6-26. What Mr. Hughes 
therefore thinks to be desirable is a thorough ex- 
amination of reliable samples with a view of definitely 
deciding, not only how far the amount of tannin is 
influenced by elevation, but also by the various 
processes of manufacture, the time allowed for 
fermentation, different conditions of temperature, 
and other ciroumstances which effect the flavour and 
probably also evenithe constituents of tea. He men- 
tioned to me that tea making depends on chemical re- 
actions carried out under certain conditions of 
temperature, and that as the strength of tea de- 
pends on the proportion of tannin, a careful de- 
termination of the constituents would be useful 
to planters as well as interesting to the general 
public. 
So far as my own very defioient knowledge can 
justify me in forming any opinion upon the points 
treated of by Mr. Hughes, it would seem to me 
that it is the last mentioned body, i.e. the general 
public, to whom such an investigation would prove 
to be first useful. The utility to your planters 
would, I should say, follow upon indications of ap- 
preciation shown by the public of certain growths 
which might comply most closely with results 
obtained by the investigation proposed. As a 
matter of fact, when A. purchases tea he can receive 
bnt little aid to his judgment by any published 
analysis of it at present available to him. Ho may 
buy a pound of tea of a kind said to contain bnt 
’.'Hie tannin under /u/Z analysis, but from which his 
system of domestic infusion may extract tannin in 
far larger proportion than would be yielded by 
another description of tea stated to contain a far 
larger proportion under analysis than that bought 
by him. It is therefore not to be doubted that 
if a standard for analytical examination was 
established and worked upon which should approach 
oloFel" to the ordinary oonditions of domestio 
practice, A would obtain a far more reliable 
guide than he has at present. We hope your 
Planters’ Assooiation will take this matter up, 
because it is important for your planters to learn 
